Soul Food: Are you eating food, or is it eating you?

“Beyond our ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there."~Rumi

(Image: Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox)

Origin of NOURISH: Middle English nurishen, from Anglo-French nuriss-, stem of nurrir, norrir, from Latin nutrire to suckle, nourish; akin to Greek nan to flow, noteros damp, Sanskrit snauti it drips. First Known Use: 14th century

Soul Food Flower Essence Remedy is designed to illuminate the dark corners of the psyche, while creating a supportive net in which to explore and ultimately transform these dusty shadows. Eating disorders, body image issues, yo-yo dieting and constant obsession with physicality, plague nearly everyone in this modern world, in some capacity. Whether it is yourself or someone close to you, we are all affected by the scope of this dis-ease of nourishment, or lack there of, of body and soul.

Holistic health trends and fads are awash with distorted messages: Militant obsession with specific foods and lifestyles, often masks deeper cravings for community, while disguising self-loathing in a 'be healthy, live longer' costume. Several of the most popular current movements were created as a catch all, with no consideration for different body types, previous conditions or for differences in men's and women's nutrition.The cult mindset is alive and well, awash in language that often seems empowering, but fosters exclusivity, control over others and a One Right Way philosophy. For many, the glitz and glamour of belonging, of having a 'fearless leader' who shines for them, giving hope, is more important than the actual content, philosophy or food being presented. Consider, though, that anyone on their own path, doing what they came here to do, will have a glow or shine about them. It's their Zen. It does not guarantee that what they are doing will translate to you, for techniques are never creative expressions. Creative expressions can be techniques, as they arise from within you, to be implemented. By implementing another's technique, you are using a tool to transform yourself, not to be confused with 'the way', but as a means to assist. Your creative expression comes when it's yours, not a carbon copy of someone else's style. Then, perhaps, it is your destiny, but until that time, it is merely a tool and should be relegated as such, even as it inspires you to grow and make changes.

With a consumer culture, packaging and branding is the order of the day. There is scarcely a chance to discover and create something truly new. Instead, trademarking, creating a clever name, figuring out how to package and sell it, what price point, etc, are the focus. This is not visionary. It is not holistic. And it is certainly not NEW. This is OLD. Old marketing styles, manipulation and control in order to sell wares. Self-empowerment retreats and self help books often provide superficial means to 'feel better', without your actually making any concrete changes, still covering the underlying suppression of power, the forces of nature waiting to be unleashed, entrapped in cycles of good/bad, not enough/too much and desires for acceptance by other, deep rooted in the psyche. As long as the message is that you are good enough, that everything will be okay, you feel better emotionally only. You do not transform spiritually. Your ego feels secure momentarily, trusting in an external source, even as your internal foundation continues to be out of alignment. There is a distortion here; so many of us know intellectually that it exists, yet the mind is regularly programmed, creating a feedback loop that even the most diligent and immunity seeking sovereignty enthusiasts find hard to shake.

This article does not address eating disorders, weight and body image from the standard cliche that we 'need to accept different types of beauty and body types, etc, etc'. For while an important indicator of healthy attitude, this approach still relegates us to an external standard of beauty and self worth. It also places us in a situation of compromise-for what we may see or not see as truly beautiful, becomes a politically correct standard, with which we are socially pressured to comply. Indeed, acceptance of diversity can become a catch all that distracts or becomes an excuse to avoid genuine concerns or issues. Care and justice for others, arises out of care and justice for ourselves, first. What is valued by the individual, reflects on the whole.This is not a debate about fat vs. skinny, whether fat is beautiful, or whether or not culturally conditioned views on beauty dictate preference (they do). Having lived in Africa, and having been told countless times that I was too thin to get a husband, and in Asia where I was once given a half eaten whole chicken (with the implication that I was too thin), from a family, to whose very 'round' child I taught English, I do not deny that cultural standards and historical conditions form notions about physical beauty. Especially and primarily for, about and by women-though this is another topic.

Rather, this is about an internal understanding of beauty, the body and the soul. Beauty is high art. As a concept, it is feared more than loved. It is envied. It is considered unattainable, even as many seek to achieve it as a goal. At the same time, beauty is not valued; it is considered vain, superfluous, superficial. Or it is considered a luxury, a leisure activity, or a cultural/educational excursion (to the museums and galleries we go!). Rarely is it accepted as necessary for vitality, for health for wholeness. We do not eat for beauty; we eat for health, for survival, for comfort, for control. What might eating for beauty look like? 'You are what you eat'. Eating as an expression of beauty, as a form of beauty, with the intention of creating beauty, transforms at all levels: Vibrational, spiritual, cellular, emotional, physical. This is your alchemy, and if you are working with one of these issues, in any degree (most are), then this is your base metal, from which you need to burn off the dross and find your gold. It's serious business. Always serious. And it's about beauty as an expression, as a consciousness, and as a state of being. Beauty does not reside only in the physical human body, or in an art work that someone else has determined to house beauty. Beauty is not about looking acceptable, or looking good. It stirs something deeper, as an expression of creation, of creativity, arising from deep within. In this way, Beauty is a bit dark; it's rich and has depth. Richness and depth always include light and dark. Shadow and form create beauty.

Soul Food Flower Essence Remedy is created with this in mind: Supporting beauty, and creative expression, while transforming control, (often used as a means of attaining perfection, safety and recognition), giving way to a desire to create, not just feed. Feeding insecurity, shame and fear certainly creates malnourishment, of body, mind and soul. Nourishment gives life: It is an expression of creative freedom, of sovereignty and free will. Housing oneself in a barricade of of excess form is not only about 'being unhealthy'; it is about finding safety through an immediate shelter: The body. It is a safety or defense mechanism for the soul, a protective layer. Phlegm colludes with stagnancy, and begins to feel safe, grounding, supportive and even nourishing. Needing to ground into the body, without feeling the support of the earth, creates a pseudo support system, disguised as emotional nourishment.

As well, many individuals find themselves going round and round on a wheel of health issues, during which there is constant pruning and at times neurotic dietary adjustments, changes, additions and attachments to the latest information/ and nutrition ideas. For those experiencing diet/nutrition information overload and the tendency to tie food and eating only to patterns of disease and pathology, this blend is an excellent choice.Do you eat only to deal with, fend off or somehow repair a problem or imperfection? Or do you eat to create health, ingest vitality and nourish the health already present within you? If you see eating as a process for physical survival only, this rift objectifies the body and separates it from the mind further. Approaching food and eating as mechanical, further enforces this mindset and perpetuates self-defeating cycles. If you believe the body is a machine that can be fixed, remember that the mind and the emotions are part of this machine. Whether you view the body mechanistically or more holistically, both perspectives include the mind and emotions. Your food, nutrition and body image relationships are intimately tied to your paradigm. Transform this concept internally, and your entire life will change, in supportive, life giving ways. This is a fundamentally spiritual paradigm shift, distinctly non dualistic and rooted in acceptance and inner liberation. New age, holistic food movements, modern yogic and buddhist settings are all similar in that they frequently separate and objectify the body as something to be treated or manipulated or observed. This tends to further bind and create karmic dependence on external sources of validation, support and wisdom.

Flower Essences illuminate subtle aspects of emotional and cognitive patterns, giving you freedom to create new patterns. The light of day gives greater clarity; carrying them around in the shadows, operating on auto pilot, they are actually in the driver's seat. When recognized and transformed, they no longer continue to operate your vehicle (your life/body) for you. To have true control over your life is to know your shadows, heal and transform them, moving off gerbil wheel patterns of relationship with the self and body. Mending the rift between mind and body, spirit and matter, illuminates personal truths more clearly, and gives you the opportunity to operate from an expanded consciousness. Soul Food Flower Remedy encourages creative self-expression, cultivation of life giving patterns that support who you really are, and the ability to move beyond social conventions, norms and false or outdated loyalties. Cramming the soul or spirit into a box in which it does not fit, also results in numerous 'perversions of expression', and may also be indicated in the context of eating disorders. Expand, breathe, room to move and not suffocating oneself are all words to consider, at any end of this spectrum.

Manzanita: Healing for estrangement between physical and spiritual worlds. Helps transform feelings of repulsion and disgust with one's body; helps ease rigid food/eating rituals & attitudes. Softens harsh attitudes, towards both body and health, that result in premature aging or 'hardening' of the body and its many 'unexplained illnesses', despite 'perfect health regimes'.

Crab Apple: Promotes acceptance of imperfection and impurity on the physical plane, whether real or imagined. Helps to ease obsessive cleanliness and purification tendencies, and helps transform allergy and psychosomatic tendencies in some individuals. Also helps with cleansing the mind and spirit, in preparation for lifestyle changes.

Pretty Face: Shifts emphasis of self worth from external standards to internal knowing. Acceptance of self, healing beliefs that one is ugly, acceptance of physical imperfections. Indicated for those who are obsessed with grooming and appearance, the need to alter their appearance or extreme fear of the aging process. Also helps with acceptance small impurities and imperfections, in a vanity and appearance driven society/world. Mends rift between spirit and body in this regard.

Sunflower: Acts as a catalyst for developing a healthy sense of self, a healthy ego. Helps when the sense of individual self is poorly developed, and instead oscillates between self-aggrandizing or co-dependent merging as a means of self-validation. Relates to third chakra, personal will and forces of the sun, the individual identity, vertically aligned ('upright Qi' is strong), connected with larger spiritual forces, while able to maintain sovereignty as an individual force of being.

Pink Yarrow: Transforms tendency to take on others emotional energies in a situation, as a way to maintain group harmony. For lack of emotional clarity, dysfunctional emotional boundaries. Cultivate compassionate presence, rather than sympathetic merging, as a means to harmonize discord.

Centaury: Saying no to others, transforming patterns of needing to please for self validation; soul stunted due to societal conventions, norms and people pleasing.

Walnut: Making healthy life choices, freedom from limiting social conventions, past ties and loyalties that no longer serve you; courage to follow one's own path or destiny.

Iris: Iris is the Greek goddess of the rainbow, the one who bridges spirit and matter. As a flower essence, Iris helps to bring passionate creativity to life and work, helping to expand beyond stifling mundane and mechanical patterns. Helps nourish and stimulate the soul, much the same way invigorating the blood stimulates the body, on the physical plane; Iris does this for the soul and energetic planes. A palette of color for the soul. One's life as a work of art. Every life is art.

Indian Paintbrush: Ability to fulfill true creative potential, through embodying the physical forces and rousing the lower limbs, vitalizing the body to harness spiritual energy in a grounded manner. How to use vital forces as a means to realizing full creative potential in life. Life is creative; every life is art.

This blend supports discovery & cultivation of the nutrients you need, for the life and healing you deserve. May this blend inspire you to new heights of nourishment, of body, mind and soul. May you be drawn to true creative expression as a force of life and support. And may your relationship with yourself, with the earth, its foods and with your soul's intentions, be positively nurtured and encouraged in the quest for security, freedom and love. You deserve this.Deserve: Middle English, from Anglo-French deservir, from Latin deservire to devote oneself to, from de- + servire to serve. First Known Use: 13th century

While this post is not an exhaustive explanation on working with food and body image issues with flower essences, nor an individualized approach (you may be interested in a Flower Essence Reading, to receive a personalized blend and intuitive reading), the information within this article is meant to stimulate thought and mindfulness. Consider that these descriptions and processes work in a 'layer of the onion manner', and that we usually have parts of ourselves still intertwined in patterns, even though we may simultaneously have a strong, intact spiritual identity and vibrant health. Fine tuning the psyche supports nuanced insight and external life changes.

*Absolutely not a substitute for qualified medical care! Intended for use as a compliment to medical care.Disclaimer: The information provided on this page is not a substitute for medical care of any kind. The information and products offered on this site, are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease. Consult your healthcare provider prior to beginning any new healthcare regimen, to determine its suitability for your situation, as needed.